Inflated suspended dancing toy



July 10, 1956 J. c. STICKLEY 2,753,658

INFLATED SUSPENDED DANCING TOY Filed Feb. 18, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR John 6. fz'czizey ATTORNEYS,

July 10, 1956 J. c. STICKLEY INFLATED SUSPENDED DANCING TOY 2SheetsSheet 2 Filed Feb.

, 35 INVENTOR J a/z n a lz'ckzey INFLATED SUSPENDED DANCING TOY John C.Stickley, Atlanta, Ga. Application February 18, 1952, Serial No. 272,017

1 Claim. (Cl. 46-88) This invention relates to toys or amusementdevices.

An object of this invention is to provide a toy or amusement deviceembodying an inflatable head or body, with bellows-type arms and legsand a cap or head piece adhesively secured to the head and having meansfor securing a string or thread to the cap or head piece so that thedevice may be suspended and then actuated.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved toy oramusement device in the form of a doll or figurine which includes acardboard body or torso having an apertured rearwardly bent tongueadapted to receive a knotted neck carried by an inflated head.

A further object of this invention is to provide a dancing toy orfigurine including an inflated upper part with a cap or head piece andone or more adhesively coated tongues carried by the cap or head pieceadapted to be secured by the adhesive to the inflated upper part.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in thearrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed in thedrawing and specification, and then more particularly pointed out in theappended claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a detailed front elevation of a toy or amusement deviceconstructed according to an embodiment of this invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on the line 2-2 of Figure1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the hat on the head of the toy.

Figure 4 is a detailed front elevation of a modified form of thisinvention.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure4.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary plan view of the device shown in Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary plan view of the body forming element used inFigure 4.

Referring to the drawings and first to Figures 1 to 3 inclusive, thenumeral 10 designates generally an inflatable combined body and headwhich is formed of rubber and has a closed neck 11 at the bottomthereof. The combined body and head 10 includes a substantiallyspherical head 12, and a pair of arms 13 extend from the body 14. Thearms 13 are formed of bellows-like material and have cardboard hands 15at their outer ends. A pair of bellows-shaped legs 16 are secured to andextend from the lower end of the body 14 and are provided with cardboardfeet 17 at their lower ends.

A hat 18 formed of cardboard is mounted on the upper end of the head 12and is formed of a flat piece of cardboard, which is cut to simulate ahat. The hat 18 is formed With a tongue 19 at the lower end thereof,which has an adhesive 20 on one side thereof so that the tongue 19 maybe bent angularly with respect to the hat 18 and then stuck to thesurface of the inflated head 12. The hat 18 is also provided with areversely bent tongue 21 disposed on the rear side of the hat 18, and astaple 22 States Patent 0 2,753,658 Patented July 10, 1 956 extendsthrough the upper portion of the tongue 21 and the hat 18. The tongue 21is held by the staple 22 closely adjacent the rear side of the hat 18,and a thread or suspension member 23 is inserted between the tongue 21and the rear side of the hat 18. The tongue 21 has sufficient resiliencyand rigidity so as to frictionally bind the thread or suspension member23 to the hat 18.

Referring now to Figures 4 to 7 inclusive, there is disclosed a modifiedform of this invention embodying a substantially spherical inflated headmember 24, which is formed of rubber or the like, and the head 24 isadapted to be secured to a cardboard body-forming member 25, as will behereinafter described.

The body-forming member 25 is provided, at the upper end thereof, with arearwardly extending tongue or flap 26 having an opening 27 therethroughand the neck 28 of the head member 24 is adapted to be extended throughthe opening 27, as clearly shown in Figure 5. The neck 28 of the headmember 24 is knotted, as indicated at 28a and then drawn through theopening 27, so as to not only hold the air or gas in the head 24, butalso to hold the neck 28 on the flap or tongue 26.

The body member 25 has a pair of bellows-like arms 29 dependingtherefrom, and the arms 29 have cardboard hands 30 secured to theirlower ends. A pair of bellowslike leg members 31 are secured to andextend downwardly from the body 25 and have cardboard feet 32 secured totheir lower ends.

A hair simulating plate 33, formed of cardboard, is secured to andextends upwardly from the head 24. The plate 33 is mounted in verticalposition on the head 24 and is provided on the rear side thereof with aplurality of adhesive coated tongues or flaps 34 which are adhesivelysecured to the head 24. The head 24 may also be provided with horns orprojections 33a adjacent plate 33. The plate 33 is formed centrally ofthe head 24 with an upwardly projecting extension 35, and a rearwardlybent flap 36 extends downwardly from the rear side of the extension 35.A staple 37 is extended through the upper portion of the flap 36 and theextension 35 so as to tightly hold the flap 36 against the rear side ofthe extension 35. A suspension thread or flexible member 38 is adaptedto be frictionally disposed between the flap 36 and the rear side of theextension 35, as shown in Figure 5.

The device shown in Figures 1 to 3 inclusive, is adapted to be initiallyproduced as a kit with the combined head 12 and body 14 in deflatedcondition, and the bellowsshaped members 13 and 16 in collapsedposition. The arms 13 at their inner ends are formed with cardboardattaching plates 39, which are adhesively secured to the body 14, andthe legs 16 are also provided at their upper ends with adhesively coatedplates formed of cardboard, as indicated at 40. The combined head andbody 10 is inflated after the manner of inflating a balloon, and whenthe head and body are inflated to the desired degree, the neck 11 isstretched out and a knot 41 formed therein so as to hold the air or gasin the head and body 12 and 14, respectively. The hat 18 is adhesivelysecured to the head 12 by bending the flap 19 rearwardly and stickingthe adhesive 20 onto the head 12. The suspension member 23 may betightly secured between a pair of spaced supports and where this isdone, the toy may be mounted on the suspension member 23 by insertingthe latter between the flap 21 and the rear side of the hat 18. Thesuspension member 23 may then be moved up and down or back and forth soas to produce motion to the arms and legs. Preferably the suspensionmember 23 is formed of a black thread so as to make the suspensionmember substantially invisible, thereby giving the impression that thedevice is suspended in mid-air without any visible support.

The toy shown in Figures 4 to 7 inclusive, is initially produced as adeflated kit and is assembled by inflating the balloon forming the head24 and then tying the knot 28a in the neck 28 and drawing the neck 28and knot 28a through the opening 27 in tongue 26. The device is. thenmounted on the suspension member 38 by inserting the suspension member38 between the flap 36 and the rear side of the extension 35.

The formation of the flap 21 on the hat 18, and the flap 36 on theextension 35 provides a means whereby the devices will be frictionallysecured to the suspension members and will not become loosened by the upand down movement of the suspension members.

I do not mean to confine myself to the exact details of constructionherein disclosed, but claim all variations falling within the purview ofthe appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A doll comprising an inflatable balloon having a head portion, a bodyportion, a neck portion connecting the head and body portions and havinga cross section substantially smaller than said head portion and saidbody portion, a pair of bellows-like paper legs adhesively secured inspaced-apart relation to the lower portion of said body portion, a footsecured to the free end of each of said legs, a pair of bellows-likepaper arms adhesively secured in spaced-apart relation to said bodyportion adjacent said neck portion, a hand secured to the free end ofeach of said arms, a flat cardboard hat adhesively secured to the upperportion of said head portion, a re verted portion integrally extendingfrom the top edge of said hat, a staple extending through said revertedportion and said hat forming a channel between the hat and the revertedportion to receive a horizontally disposed manipulating string, andindicia on one wall of said head portion forming a doll face.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS592,257 Saladee et al. Oct. 26, 1897 1,527,116 Burgert Feb. 17, 19251,598,828 Leatherow Sept. 7, 1926 1,661,197 Richardson Mar. 6, 19281,663,573 Tharp Mar. 27, 1928 1,809,635 Luhrs June 9, 1931 1,858,460Ranseen May 17, 1932 1,967,138 Wiener July 17, 1934 2,007,791 Burns July9, 1937 2,208,445 Bates July 16, 1940 2,234,617 Beck et al. Mar. 11,1941

